Means for securing together two shafts or the like



Jan. 13, 1953 L. R. FELLOWS MEANS FOR SECURING TOGETHER TWO SHAFTS ORTHE LIKE Filed March 24, 1950 Patented Jan. 13, 1 953 FOR-SEGURINGTOGETHEB'TWO SHAFTSDR THE LIKE Les i Richa F l w entry En nd signor toArmstrong SiddeleyMotors Limited,

Qe ent nEn o an Application March. 2.4, 1950,'Serial =No. 151,675

qreatfiifite April-29, 194,9

v hithel in thee e f a g mn ine, for e ampl a gas turbine engine, thereis usually at least one shaft, for example, for driving auxiliaries,which has at times to bedisconnected from a generally coaxial drivingmember, andit is very advantageous to save time ineffecting itsdisconnection, or in correctly securing .it again in position.

The usual practice is to provide a pair of flanges on the ends of theshaftor like parts which can be secured together by means of, say, fournuts and bolts orstuds, and it very often happens that at least once:thesenuts is rela-, tively inaccessible, which increases the time inl ei ara in t e a s or in i -a sembling them, and often requires the useofaspecial spanner.

A met od, ac g to e in nt on of curing two coaxial rotatablememberstogether so that they can be quickly detached fhOI 9 .16

another or accurately. secured together, involves providing the adjacentends of thesaid members with inter-engaging self-centering teeth to$11-- surea coaxial relationship between the two, using a-nut which hasa thr ad d en a ment wi h one of the, members and anaxial location engaement with the other, and providi .5 a-. T-Bleasablespring catch forholding the nutagainst turning.

The invention further consists in a joint comprising two coaxialgmfllllb lis having inter-engaging self-centering teeth, a ring nut having ascrew-threaded engagement with one ojfthememher and an axially locatingflange adapted to bear against the other of the members, the flange ofthe nut having a ring-of notches at its inner periphery, and a sprinea-teht eeeet Witht e flange notches for an iilar v locat he t, t c h ina le fype sprin eaif v e a, ete shaped to click over the teethbetweenthe notches when tightening the nut.

In the accompanyingdrawings;

Figure 1 is a half-sectional elevation showing two coaxial rotatablemembers coupled together according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 ofFigure 1, with the nut and the associated member of the joint brokenaway at the bottom in order to disclose som of the teeth of the othermember;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary axial view of the nut, looking from theright-i. e., substantially in the direction of the arrow 3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the spring catch, lookingin the direction of the arrow 4 of Figure 1;

Figu e ..5 shows the .QPfithfiVQfihd o a s anner which is Pi ll L ii'?:Pl@ .ier rise-in r. the mi Figure .6 is an enlar ed .seetienaleieiietieii taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5 and V F nres i and taresim lar ra mentar vie of the top iavvo the SDQ QPQUf Q scale. than thato Figure .5 wi avvay-v to showan adjus able paw ih theep. position,respec ively, erun e win tFieliie and for ti htening (Fi ure 3 the hiltIn the drawin s, one. of ,then emher for J zeample, the drivin member,at the \ieiii p .1 1? invention,.is shownat 71, 2 aseoinnr sin asl eveportion I13 attaehe d to a radial end f aii el l the sleeve.por-tionbeing internally splined t nable it to have a drivingconnection .Witha J'Q FDQIJQQ driving shaft, which is nOtEJlQWn. Thedriven member l f the joint of the.iny.ention is shown as ayoke .toconstitute the. driving elementof a three-element coupling ,of .a kindwelleknown peruse. As will be well understood, theafpresaiddrivingshaft, not shown, may be permanently coupled to the. drivingmember 12 of the joint, and-may be connected to be driven, forexa-mple,from a gas turbine engine; and the drivenele-i ment-(not shown) -.of thethree-element coupling may be permanently coupled to an auxiliary driveshaft of the gas turbineengine.

The driving elementof thecoupling, i. e., the

driven member It, is-formed on its appropriate face with-a ring ofaxially-extendingsharp-edged ive 7 2 teeth l 8-,disposed along linesradial: tdthe axis of thejoint. The teeth taper in axial elevation(Figure 2-) from their radially outer edges toward their radially inneredges, according to trueradial lines, and side elevation also(Figurellthe free edgesof-the-teethand the bases ofthe teeth also taperfrom their radially otter edeest t e adial y inne ed e h lines 6011-verging to meet at the axis (time joint. The flange [4 of the drivingmember re ease corresponding ring of teeth 20, so that when the twotoothed rings are pressed axially into full engagement the members I2,16 are self-centered or rendered coaxial'as in the case of the so-calledHirth coupling.

In the present instance a cylindrical portion of the member l6 has ascrew-thread 22 cut upon it, to be engaged by the internal thread of asleeve nut 23 having a radially-extending flange 24 at its other end toengage behind the flange M of the member l2, so that screwing up the nutwill force the teeth into self-centering engagement as aforesaid.

The locking means for the nut is shown as including a series of notches25, between teeth 26 formed at the internal periphery of the flange 24of the nut, with which coacts a one-way spring catch. This is shown ascomprising a detent 21 carried by an annular-type of leaf-spring 23riveted at 29 to the appropriate face of the flange M, the detent havingan inclined face 30 such as to allow of rotation of the nut in thetightening direction, whilst its straight face (Figure 1), opposite itsinclined face, normally prevents reverse rotation of the nut.

For screwing up the nut use may be made of a c-spanner havingprojections adapted to be entered axially to engage serrations betweenteeth 31 provided on the external periphery of the nut at the end wherethe radial flange 24 is. For unscrewing the nut use may be made of agenerally similar spanner fitted, at a less radius with regard to theaxis of the joint, as shown by Figures and 6, with an axially-extendingflange portion 33 which can engage and press back the spring catch whenthe spanner is engaged in the serrations of the nut, thus holding thenut free to be unscrewed.

To ensure that the spanner will engage the teeth 3! sufficiently topress back the spring catch in this way, the spanner projections 34 andthe teeth 31 may be undercut laterally, in a manner known per se, at 35as indicated. (These undercut portions are shown by chain lines on onlytwo of the teeth 31 in Figure 2.) The arrangement is such that applyingtorque to the spanner in the direction to unscrew the nut will tend toforce the spanner projections axially into full engagement with theserrations between the teeth 31, thereby moving the flange portion 33 ofthe spanner fully into engagement with the spring catch.

The actual spanner shown is one which is adapted for use either whentightening the nut or unscrewing it. Each of the spanner jaws carries apawl 38 (Figures 6 to 8) which is movable by means of an arm 39 eitherinto the position shown in Figure 7, in which the undercut projection 40is in the operative position, to enable the spanner to be used forunscrewing the nut, or to the position shown in Figure 8, in which astraight out projection 41 is in the operative position, to enable thespanner to be used for tightening the nut. The pawl is biassed to stayin the selected position by means of a leaf-spring 43.

Thus, after using the spanner for unscrewing the nut (Figure 7), inorder to screw up the nut the pawls are moved to bring the projections4| into the operative position (Figure 8), and, on applying torque tothe spanner, when the projections M are engaged in the serrations of thenut, the spanner will not be forced axially to hold the spring catchclear of the teeth 26 of the nut, and the detent 21 will therefore clickover the associated teeth until tightening of the nut has beencompleted.

iii)

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A joint comprising two co-axial members having inter-engagingself-centering teeth, a ring nut having a screw-threaded engagement withone of the members and an axially locating flange adapted to bearagainst the other of the members, the flange of the nut having a ring ofnotches defining teeth at its inner periphery, a leaf spring anchored tosaid other of the members, said leaf spring remotely from its anchoragehaving a portion for resiliently engaging the backs of said teeth andhaving another portion radially within the inner periphery of saidlocating flange, and a detent fast with said leaf spring remotely fromits said anchorage and for coaction with the flange notches forangularly locating the nut, said detent shaped to click over the teethbetween the notches when tightening the nut, and the said anotherportion of said leaf spring being for axial deflection for withdrawingthe detent from the engaged notch when the nut is to be removed.

2. A joint comprising two co-axial members having inter-engagingself-centering teeth, a ring nut having a screw-threaded engagement withone of the members and an axially locating flange adapted to bearagainst the other of the members, the flange of the nut having a ring ofnotches defining teeth at its inner periphery, an annular leaf springfast at one end of a diameter with said other of the members, said leafspring having a portion at the other end of said diameter forresiliently engaging the backs of said teeth and having another portionradially within the inner periphery of said locating flange, and adetent fast with said leaf spring in a position at the said other end ofsaid diameter and for coaction with the flange notches for angularlylocating the nut, said detent shaped to click over the teeth between thenotches when tightening the nut, and the said another portion of saidleaf spring being for engagement by a tool when the latter is beingmoved axially into engagement with the nut whereby to become flexed forwithdrawing the detent from the engaged notch when the nut is to beremoved.

LESLIE RICHARD FELLOWS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 349,678 Applegate Sept. 28, 18861,435,028 Stewart Nov. 7, 1922 1,722,541 Rossetti July 30, 19292,270,092 Thompson Jan. 13, 1942 2,400,166 Reece May 14, 1946 2,489,919Merriman Nov. 29, 1949

